Thursday, 29 January 2015

Colonial Cafe, The Majestic Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

Colonial Cafe - our favourite table in one of two atriums filled with natural light

Colonial Café, The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur

Colonial Café is an old friend of ours. Consistently
providing delicious meals, an elegant setting and superb service, we’ve been
repeat visitors since it opened two years back.

Colonial Cafe Bar and Entertainment Area

A weekend stay in the stylish Majestic Wing sees us
returning for lunch two days in a row and a chance to revisit some old
favourites. Here’s an account of day one:

Brioche

Cold Starters

The Café’s Famous Traditional Caesar Salad (RM35) keeps
history alive with baby romaine hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, toasted garlic
chips and Parmesan shavings. Malaysian restaurants in general are generous with
their salad dressings, and Colonial Café follows suit. So, if you prefer to be
in control of portioning, remember to ask for the dressing on the side. Besides
a base of super fresh ingredients, I think what really makes this salad are the
dried cherry tomatoes and garlic, each delivering their own edge.

While the Crusty Portobello Mushroom (RM55) is one of the
few dishes listed as vegetarian, we’re told others can be adapted or requests
made for meat-free choices. The mushroom does take my fancy though. A meaty
fungi base is stuffed with spinach and cooked with a cheese crumble covering. White
bean ragout flavours angel hair pasta, which acts as a cushion for the jewel. Those
sun-dried tomatoes from my starter reappear in the pasta donating again a tasty
lift. Bitter rocket balances the colour palette and cuts through some of the
oil coating on the pasta.

Crusty Portobello Mushroom

Surf and Turf (RM170) sees a manly portion of rib eye steak
and grilled king prawn take up most of the plate. Hiding underneath is a raft of
mashed potato, asparagus, carrots and cherry tomatoes. A pot of rosemary gravy
is a perfect companion to the steak and a lemon butter sauce goes just as well
with the huge crustacean. By the look at both of our plates at this point,
you’d think we hadn’t eaten in days, as they’ve all been scraped clean.

Surf and Turf

Sides

We mistakenly order sides, wrongly thinking that the main is
unaccompanied, and do have some trouble getting through them. Asparagus (RM20) and
Creamed Potato (RM20) could fill me on their own. It must be asparagus season
as these spears are beautifully succulent and, even though we’re stuffed, quickly
disappear from the bowl. Potato, fluffy and cloud-like, too tastes just as
delicious as it looks.

Asparagus

Creamed Potato

Desserts

Our orders for sweets are rather predictable: Hubby requests
the deep-fried banana and, I the sticky date pudding. Pisang Goreng a la Mode
(RM45) arrives hot from the pot, and the creamy vanilla ice-cream will soon
melt, if not for hubby’s rapid enthusiastic spooning. Sticky Date and Toffee
Pudding (RM45), when done right, has to be one of my most endeared sweets. This
specimen is moist and spongy with the distinctive sweet dried fruit flavouring
the dome. The toffee sauce is delectable and I would take a jar of it home if
it were for sale.